It’s the 21st Century, girls!

As I walk from the railway station to Cuba Street, following some sweet young thing tottering along on high heeled shoes with pointy toes, I wonder.

If someone was to suggest to today’s confident young woman that she bind her feet as was done to Chinese girls, she would be horrified and tell them where to get off. But this same woman will voluntarily squeeze her feet into totally inappropriate footwear which completely misaligns her whole body, not to mention the damage it’s doing to her feet.

The human body is a brilliantly designed piece of machinery, where even the smallest movement involves an intricate coordination of muscles, nerves and brain.

When you interfere with the way one part operates, this affects all the other parts of the body. I wonder how many of today’s malaises are due to people wearing these silly fashion items.

Sadly, this folly is also perpetrated by mature women, so strongly is the imperative ingrained in the female psyche to fit into society’s expectation to “look good”.

Men don’t escape the limited range of footwear available. Most fashion shoes have a tapered toe. Have a look at the shape of your feet. Does it have a narrower heel, widening towards the toes? Just like the rest of us. And yet our shoes are shaped the opposite way. Even constricting the toes in this way will have flow on effects through the whole posture.

So can’t we let go of this footwear fetish? It’s time to evolve a new idea of style, where a free and flowing stride is considered attractive and fashionable.

Go Anne! ! ! – and what’s the next step? – was reading an item this week about the idea of people not liking themselves/their name, and identify with people with ‘names’ like stars and sports heroes to compensate for their lack of positive self esteem – this fashion conformity has a similar ring to it. Good to talk on Sunday.
Got new passport (within the time guidelines!) and fly out 15 July – – yeehaaa! ! ! DK

Good one liked the last bit about the striding freely etc. I must confess I am one of the perps (Perpetrators) and also pretty well in the mature category who squeezes her toes into those ridiculous feet carriages. BUT THEY LOOK SO GREAT! You will perhaps be a little relieved to know I only succumb to this folly a few times a year when I really just want that “look”.
We must keep up the fight for shoes that feel good, last well and look good.
Flashback!! This brings to mind a time when my sister and I bought the same shoes unbeknown to each other – most ridiculous shape for good posture but boy they were pretty.